Large, slow-growing shrub with bright yellow flowers from a dry winter rainfall climate. An ideal low-maintenance plant for dry winter-rainfall (Mediterranean) climates like southern California. Intolerant of excess summer water. Do not overwater, especially in summer. Plant in full sun with excellent drainage. Provide strong light to young plants during winter.

As the name would suggest, this species branches early and often, growing broad through a proliferation of thin stems that shoot off starting just above ground level. Old plants can be quite striking. This aloe can be grown with some difficulty from cuttings started in the fall.

Found in the Richtersveld of northwestern South Africa, just into Namibia. Closely related to, and formerly a subspecies or variety of A. dichotomum, a much larger tree with a distinct trunk from the same general area. Recently moved with that species and a few other tree aloes to the genus Aloidendron based on DNA studies.

Hybrid Peony 'Abalone Pearl' (Krekler 1978). Early flesh single or semi-double, cupped flowers 5-6 inches wide that are coral-pink with a pearl tint. Golden-yellow stamens. Slightly fragrant. William H. Krekler (1900-2002) from Somerville, Ohio (population ~300, located about 50 miles north of Cincinnati). A hybridizer who registered more than 400 cultivars from his breeding program, most of which were released in the 1960s and 70s. In 1977, he sold his peony breeding farm to Charles Klehm and Son Nursery. Also, at that time, a number of seedlings were purchased by other breeders.

This is a known tetraploid (4N) breeding plant used in the past by New Horizon Orchids (it was sold prior to late 2016). The hybridiser, Andy Easton, notes that the alba form of Splendid Cymbidium (Cymbidium insigne) was used to create this particular plant.

Agastache 'Fall Fiesta' is a new Hybrid Hummingbird Mint that High Country Gardens just introduced. Its parents are Ava x Glowing Embers. Beautiful and colorful with pink and orange flowers. It's sure to attract the hummingbirds!

The best way to care for this plant is to follow the care instructions for Callisia repens variegata. Callisia repens does not have the water needs that Tradescantia fluminensis does. And if you purchase a plant with this name, you do not have a T. fluminensis.

Large, fat, slow-growing tree aloe from a very harsh and dry winter rainfall area in northwestern South Africa, extending into Namibia. Trunk has a rough, irregular texture. This tree may reach close to 30 feet tall after many decades. It branches regularly and dichotomously (by division of the rosettes at the crown) once the stem has reached a certain height, giving rise to a dense, rounded canopy. Flowers are bright yellow, ventricose (with a little belly), and appear on upright inflorescences at the tops of the rosettes with exserted stamens and style. They are pollinated by weavers, sunbirds, white-eyes, and starlings in habitat, where the branches are often host to weaver nests.

Best suited to dry winter-rainfall (Mediterranean) climates like southern California. Refractory to summer water. Do not overwater during summer. Limited summer rainfall may be tolerated by landscape plants with excellent drainage; potted plants may do best with minimum summer water. Landscape plants develop the best form when grown in full sun without any supplemental water, once they are established. Provide excellent drainage in containers and in the ground.

Related to two other tree aloes from the same area, A. ramossisimum and A. pillansii, which are generally similar but can be resolved by differences in form and flowers. A. ramosissimum (which has at times been considered synonymous with dichotomum) is a shorter, bushier plant to about 10 feet with many branches starting close to the base. The very rare A. pillansii may be slightly taller than dichotomum but it branches much less, and its inflorescences are horizontal or pendulous, produced from leaf axils lower in the rosette.

This aloe was recently moved along with a few other tree aloes to a separate genus (Aloidendron) because they were determined by molecular studies to be closely related to each other, and distinct from Aloe. It will be found in publications more than a few years old as Aloe dichotoma. It appeared on the Namibian 50 cent coin. It is one of the parents (with A. barberae) of "Hercules", a faster and much less touchy hybrid which favors the dichotomum parent when grown on the dry side. Threatened by climate change.

This Hairy or Fringeleaf Wild-Petunia is an easy, reliable perennial for sunny and dry to well-drained soils and makes a good garden plant and should become more well-know and used more. It is not a true Petunia, but a member of the Acanthus Family. It is native to much of the eastern and central US. It has grayish-green, opposite leaves and white hairy stems. Its purple, trumpet-shaped flowers get to 2.5 inches wide and bloom from sunrise into the afternoon, but then flowers fall off before sunset, each flower lasting less than a day. The flowers don't really have a scent and they bloom about 2 months long in summer. It produces some fairly large dark seeds that get around so that it self-sows a good amount. I planted three plants in my garage bed of low plants and I've found some coming up in the front and back yards. It does not compete well with taller plants. It is deer and rabbit resistant. I've seen some in native meadow and prairie restorations, and the Lurie Garden in Chicago has a number placed around their site. The species is sold by a good number of native plant nurseries. I'm probably the only one in my little town that has some.

This Canadian Wild-Ginger is an easy, somewhat slow growing groundcover plant. I have seen some growing wild in rich, moist soils of the woods of southeast Pennsylvania. Its native range is from New Brunswick through southern Quebec & Ontario into southern Manitoba down into Oklahoma to northern Louisiana to Georgia, growing in various wooded situations. Its best pH range is 6 to 7, but can go over and under some. It is called Wild-Ginger because the rhizome roots emit a ginger-like odor and they can be cooked to have a ginger substitute, though it is warned that the foliage is toxic and it would not be good to eat much of the roots that have some toxic also. It is a larval host for the Pipeline Swallowtail Butterfly. It is in the Pipeline Family and not a true Ginger. Prairie Nursery in central Wisconsin notes that it is a good groundcover plant to overcome the invasive European Garlic-Mustard and that it can suppress evil Buckthorn seedlings and other invasive plants. Plant about a foot apart to form a solid groundcover. This species is sold by most native plant nurseries and by a good number of conventional nurseries with a diverse selection of perennials. I see it occasionally in gardens and landscapes.

I have occasionally seen this wild native plant (Alternate-leaved Wingstem) in some spots around in southeast Pennsylvania. It grows in moist to mesic soils in bottomlands, woodland edges, riverbanks, roadsides, and meadows-prairies from eastern Ontario & New York & Rhode Island down into Florida to east Texas to Nebraska into Iowa to lower Michigan and back. It is a tall, upright forb from 3 to 8 feet high. Its rough leaves are alternate on the winged stems. Its yellow petals droop down and its flowers bloom in August-September and are loved by many bees, bumblebees, some butterflies, and other insects. It is a pretty plant that is offered by some native plant nurseries as seed or plants. It is not recommended for small gardens as it is aggressive to increase itself. (There is a Crownbeard (V. occidentalis) that is similar except for having opposite leaves and tends to be smaller from Missouri to Pennsylvania and southward.) (There is also a Yellow Crownbeard (V. helianthoides) this is very similar but is shorter, hairier, with more ray florets of 8 to 15 that don't droop, and blooms earlier starting in June.)

National plant of Namibia. The branches were used to make quivers, hence the name. Insects, birds, and mammals are drawn to the nectar, and it provides nesting sites for sociable weavers. Interestingly, a hollowed out dead plant can be used as a natural refrigerator as the fibrous tissue of the trunk has a cooling effect. Young flower buds are edible and taste similar to asparagus.

Sloe gin is made from the Blackthorn drupes. I discovered a hidden thicket of Prunus spinosa at the Washington State University Arboretum in January 2018. I could see the blue color of the berries from quite a distance across the open meadow, and I wondered: what in the world would be so blue, in such large numbers, in the middle of winter here in Washington? As I got closer, I couldn't believe my eyes! There were hundreds of powder blue balls covering the branches. I had never seen these little trees before. I had no idea what they were. The fruit looked for all the world like concord grapes, only they didn't hang in clusters and there were no vines, just spiny branches, like a plum tree. Because of that, I knew they had to be in the Prunus genus. I ate some and they were very good and sweet. Probably because they had been through many "frosts" and had been on the branches for quite some time. They were definitely good and ripe! I kept the pits from the ones I ate and planted them in some pots in my green house. I hope I will see little sprouts this spring. I will return to them again to see how they look in the spring, summer, and fall, and of course, take more photos!

Chunky, branching caudiciform shrub with summer-deciduous green leaves and bell-like flowers. One of the more common Tylecodons in cultivation. Provide strong light and regular water during the growing period when the plant is in leaf (fall though spring). Do not overwater during dormancy (occasional summer water is fine). This succulent is from dry western, winter-rainfall areas of South Africa and Namibia and is an excellent low-maintenance choice for dry Mediterranean climates like coastal Southern California.

Fastest growth is observed in the ground. This plant will not reach anywhere near its full potential size of about 6 feet in a container. Growth will be especially slow when kept constrained in small pots. However, this Tylecodon looks great as a bonsai, after being grown to size elsewhere and then staged for presentation.

Best form in full sun. Requires excellent drainage. May benefit from pruning to induce branching and encourage broader growth. May be self fertile. Seeds are very small and young seedlings require protection for some time after germination. Propagate from cuttings in the fall.

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Ruby Slippers' (Oak Leaf Hydrangea) is a product of a breeding program started in 1996 at the U.S. National Arboretum in McMinnville, TN (A cross and Intercross of H. quercifolia 'Snow Queen' and 'Pee Wee'). After evaluations, it was introduced in 2010. A dwarf at 3 1/2- to 4-ft. tall, its 9" upright, cone-shaped panicles open white, then turn pale pink and mature to deep rose. Dark green oak-like leaves turn mahogany-red in fall. Grows well in partial shade to full sun. USDA Zones 5-8.

Tree aloe from southeastern Africa with dramatic red or orange flowers in winter. The leaves also may be quite colorful, ranging from grayish or bluish green in protected locations to orangey brown or copper red for some plants in full sun. Leaves are usually somewhat channeled and recurved, these features exaggerated by drought stress. May reach up to 6 feet tall with a substantial stem, or be stemless, or have a decumbent stem. May branch at the base or higher up.

The inflorescence is oblique (running sideways). The flowers are ventricose (with a little belly) and secund (oriented in one direction on the flower stalk, up), topped with colorful exserted stamens (purple filaments and orange anthers) when they open. Aloe mawii flowers are similar to those of the stemless Aloe ortholopha from Zimbabwe (whose inflorescences may branch more) and the sprawling Aloe powysiorum from Kenya (larger floral bracts, and flowers a paler red).

From Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania. Stemless plants are found in Mozambique. Uncommon in cultivation. Thrives in full sun.